


Is There Anyone, Anymore?

by kissesfromkrug



Series: 5 + 1 [3]
Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: (minor theme), Cuddling & Snuggling, Internalized Homophobia, Irrational Fears, M/M, Mild Language, Montreal Canadiens, Pre-Slash, Unrequited affection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-15
Updated: 2017-05-15
Packaged: 2018-11-01 07:13:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10916937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kissesfromkrug/pseuds/kissesfromkrug
Summary: Couldn’t Alex share at least once in his life?





	Is There Anyone, Anymore?

**Author's Note:**

> Title taken from "Anyone, Anymore" by Lovex, a Finnish band I just discovered and am now obsessed with.   
> This is fiction, non-for-profit, and y'all can point out my mistakes. :)

•1•

Rainclouds cover the moon and stars as the two dispirited men get out of their car and head up into their apartment. “Surprised it din't monsoon on my head too,” Gally mumbles to himself, and Alex corrects, 

“It only can monsoon in ocean near India, the eastern part of North America get only hurricanes.”

"I didn't need a fucking geography—weather lesson, Chuck, it’s just words I spit out that don’t make any fucking sense cause I’m fucking upset cause it’s my fault that they got two goals in ten minutes! Does your all your smart-ass mumbo-jumbo tell you _that_?” Alex merely sighs, having gotten used to his best friend’s post-loss frustrations. He also doesn’t try to convince Gally that it wasn’t just his fault, since _that_ always leads to arguments as well.

Gally is just getting out of (another) shower as Alex finally crawls into his bed and flicks off the small ornamental lamp on the side table. There’s some shuffling in the hallway as Alex snuggles deeper into the blankets, and his door creaks open. “The fuck are you doing?”

“I, um…I’m sorry I yelled at you,” Gally mumbles ashamedly as he shuts the door behind him. Alex sits up in bed, frowning as the blankets slide off his bare shoulders, but he's more focused on Gally's words. He _apologized?_ Crazy. ”I just wanted to, um, ask if you would, uh, consider letting me sleep in your bed since I, uh, had a really shitty night?" 

“With me?”

“Yes?” Alex frowns, shaking his head. 

“No. You move while you sleep way too much and you play iPad games until the sun rises, so no, I not let you stay with me,” he says, to Gally’s disappointment. 

“I don’t _always_ mess with the iPad, that’s only when I can’t fall asleep!” Which is probably every night. 

“ _No._ Fuck off. _”_

“Fine, fine, okay.” He awkwardly waves and shuffles towards the door, saying, "Night, Chuck, see ya early tomorrow morning, eh?” Alex just grunts, and the door shuts behind Gally. 

“ _He is crazy_ ," he mutters to himself, shaking his head as he re-burritos himself in his fluffy blankets.

•2•

Gally is stuck awake at 3 am the day before a game in Boston, unable to get a wink of sleep. Alex snores softly in the bed across the room, and Gally turns his head to stare. “How can you even _sleep_ at a time like this?”

There's no answer, as expected, but Gally sighs sadly. Whatever kind of sleeping pill Alex takes, he sure as hell wants it—no, he _needs_ it. He pulls out his iPad and tries surfing social media, but like any normal person, all his friends are fast asleep. “‘Is there anyone out there, ‘cause it’s getting harder and harder to breathe’," he whispers to himself as he shoves the electronic back in his bag and stares at the ceiling. 

He counts the tiny bumps on the white surface until he's driven nearly insane by the sheer number of them. Again Gally looks over to Alex, debating about whether he should go through with his plan. Why not give it a shot? “Chucky!” He whisper-shouts, leaning towards his friend. “Chuck!”

“Mmghha” is the only sound he gets in response, so Gally swings his legs out of bed and leans over Alex, shoving his shoulder. 

“Chucky, wake the fuck up!” Gally’s voice has risen to a low growl, and Alex rolls over to face him and blinks awake.

“3 fucking _what_?” He mumbles wearily, rubbing his eyes like a small child. “What in goddamn—“

“Can I sleep with you?" Gally asks hopefully. “I can’t sleep worth a damn.” Alex's eyes suddenly stop blinking sleep out of them.

“Can you _what_?” Gally flushes pink, because of _course_ that’s not what he meant. Not at first, that is…

“I, uh—“

"No. Sleep in own bed,” Alex grumbles, cheeks red in the darkness as he silently thanks _fuck_ that it’s pitch black in their hotel room. “Go away.” Gally’s shoulders droop. Couldn’t Alex share at least _once_ in his life?

•3•

“I’m _dying_ ,” Gally complains in a loud, nasally voice as he sprawls out even more on the couch. He's been out with a rough cold for the past few days, and since their games are all at home during this stretch, Alex has been assigned the task of Gally-sitter. What a fun, fun job.

"We all are,” Alex shoots back. “We will all die, and we are all dying right now."

“Way to be positive.”

"I am not positive when I stay home from dinner because of _you_. When you are there, I am not positive.” Gally just laughs, blowing his nose for the 15th time in 10 minutes. 

“You _love_ me, Chuck, don't say I don't make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside.”

“That sound horrible," Alex replies, changing the channel to some cooking show. Gally makes a distressed sound, and Alex complains in annoyance, “This is for you so you do not eat take out for rest of your life."

“But that sounds _good_!”

“No.” Gally whines (very loudly, loud enough that Alex sends him constant dirty looks) to himself for several minutes, eventually blurting out, 

“Can I sleep in your bed tonight? It looks so comfy and fluffy and warm and—”

“You have own bed, sleep there. Is good enough for you. I do not want to get sick, either. You have low enough standards for something like that.” Gally ignores the jab and exclaims,

"But it’s not _warm_ enough! Mine’s too cold and too hard and not as comfy as yours probably is, Chuck, come _on_!” Alex rolls his eyes.

“I don't give a shit.” Gally goes to open his mouth, but Alex interjects, “Sleep in your own fucking bed!”

"So cold, Chuck, you're so, so cold…”

•4•

“Fuck,” Gally pants, bolting upright in bed. He looks around the room, head snapping back and forth. “Okay, Brendan, you're okay, there’s nothing wrong, you're _fine_ , it’s just a stupid dream, everything’s _perfectly_ al—“ A crack of thunder is heard directly above him, and he leaps out of bed, momentarily terrified, and hurries down the hallway to Alex’s bedroom. 

Gally hesitates before turning the doorknob, deciding that Alex probably would punch him if he knocked. “Chucky?” He breathes, but there’s only silence. "Chuck, wake up.” Alex simply takes in a long breath, snorts, and rolls on his side so he's facing the edge of the bed. 

Gally sighs and takes the remaining steps to the bed, crawling up the bed and trying to wriggle under the covers next to Alex. He manages to get his legs and hips under without touching, but his upper body becomes a challenge to fit. The blankets are tucked into the sides of the bed under the mattress, so they’re tightly stretched across the bed, probably difficult even for one person to get under. Gally squeaks in frustration, freezing as Alex shifts next to him. 

When Alex's breathing goes back to normal, he turns his head to experimentally sniff the soft sheets. Freshly washed, just as he’d suspected. “What the _fuck_ are you doing in my bed?” Alex demands, and Gally gulps. He'd interpreted the lack of sounds as contributing to the continued sleep of Alex, but apparently not.

“I’m, uh, I had, uh, I just—"

“Fucking do _not_ come to me!” Alex exclaims in frustration. “Not come to me for help every time, go to therapist or something!”

“Chuck, I—“

“Get out _now_!” Gally's words die in his throat, and he hangs his head as he extracts himself from beneath the blankets, now unwilling to tell Alex that part of his nightmare had been about losing Alex—forever.

"Sorry I bothered you, Chuck." There’s no response, and Gally has to force himself to silently choke on tears so Alex won’t think he’s even weaker.

•5•

"No, my _sister_ will have the bedroom!” Alex demands, and Gally throws his head back in frustration.

“But _why_? I fucking _live_ here, shouldn’t I get first pick? Second pick, something like that?”

“Is not how it works, Gally, I pay for food, I pick who sleeps where.”

Later that night, when Anna and Alex are already in bed, Gally sighs as he stares across the living room at the fish. “It’s so fucking unfair, Bubble,” he sighs, pulling the blanket higher over his shoulders. “Why does _she_ get my room?” The fish only swims in a circle and releases a stream of tiny bubbles towards the surface. “I know, right?"

The clock under the tv flashes 00:26 in red, and Gally huffs out a loud breath and sits up. “If he won't let me have my own _real_ bed, then I’ll just take his! _He_ can fucking sleep on the couch!” Gally gets up and looks back at the fish, adding, “No offense, Bubble.”

He tiptoes down the hallway and pushes open Alex’s door, going for a less stealthy method than last time. He leaps onto the mound under the covers, muffling Alex’s eventual protests in probably all three languages. He wriggles around violently, like a captured fish on steroids, and Gally can’t help but giggle as he tries to pin down his teammate.

“Get the fuck _off_ me, Gally!” He finally gets out as his arms are pinned at his sides. 

"I not give you my bed, not now, not _ever_! You need to stop to try to take it, you stupid motherfucker! This is mine!”  
"Just like the bed Anna’s sleeping in is ‘mine’ too, eh?" Gally demands, all the amusement rushing out of the situation like a big “fun-times" balloon was just popped. “Don't tell me—“

“Get the fuck out!” Alex roars, and Gally falls backwards off the bed onto his ass. 

“Jesus _fuck_ , alright, alright, I’ll sleep on the fucking couch that’ll give me back problems, al _right_!” Gally stomps out of the room, ignoring Alex’s sighs and mutters behind him. 

•+1•

Alex is almost in tears as he stares at the photo on his phone. “ _She promised_ ," he whispers, brings his knees up to his chest in bed. He suddenly slams down the phone, much more interested in the ceiling as he lets himself fall backwards. “ _I'm so fucking stupid_ …”

“Chucky, why ya sleeping in late?" Gally asks brightly, swinging the bedroom door wide open. 

“Fuck away,” Alex tries, blushing a bit at his English error. He tries to repeat the words in a steady voice, making it deeper as he tries to conceal his sorrow. 

“You alright?” Fuck, that didn’t work.

“Is nothing for you to know.”

“Is it, um—is it your girlfriend?” Gally asks quietly—which is a rarity—and Alex makes a loud pained sound. That would be a yes. "So—"

“It not matter,” he squeaks out, but Gally just shakes his head and comes to sit beside Alex on his bed. “Off my bed?” It comes out as a question instead of an order, and Gally take the discarded phone and throws it onto the nightstand. 

“Come ‘ere, Chuck.” When Alex doesn't move, Gally literally flings himself into his arms and tackles him to the bed. “We can talk, or I can cuddle you till you suffocate and die. Your choice.” Alex closes his eyes and _whimpers_ pitifully, tears streaking down his cheeks. Gally pulls back a bit, surprised. He doesn't know whether to tease him or be concerned.

“No..” Alex whispers. “Stay the night? Here, uh, with…with me?”

Gally’s first thought is, “Well, no shit, that’s what I've been trying to do for the longest _time_!” Of course, he doesn’t say that. That would be weird.

“I guess.” Gally wraps his arms around Alex, both of them now on their sides facing each other. “Of course I'll stay...but only if you tell me why the fuck you’re crying. Nobody can hurt my lil Chucky!”

"Shut up,” Alex sniffs, unable to hold back a small giggle. "You are little one."

“Seriously though. Tell me, Alex.” He jerks his head up to look at Gally, who gives him a small smile. “Please tell me.”

“It not matter anymore,” Alex mumbles, scrabbling at Gally to try to get him closer. “I have you now.”


End file.
